Glory Days I n 1993 the National League NL decided it was time to add two new teams One of them would be in Florida Groups from different cities around the state made their pitch to get that team The winner was Miami However instead of using the city’s name the team’s new ownership chose to call the club the Florida Marlins This way everyone in the state would think of the Marlins as their team Over the next 19 seasons the Marlins gave their fans plenty to get excited about The team assembled a talented roster in its early years including All-Stars Jeff Conine Gary Sheffield Charles Johnson and Robb Nen Unfortunately the Marlins often struggled That began to change in 1996 when Kevin Brown Al Leiter and Devon White joined the club A year later the Marlins added Moises Alou Alex Fernandez and Bobby Bonilla 6
LEFT Gary Sheffield set a team record with 42 homers in 1996 RIGHT Edgar Renteria was a young leader on the 1997 Marlins At the same time young players such as Edgar Renteria Luis Castillo Craig Counsell and Livan Hernandez began to contribute The Marlins went from having a losing record in their first four seasons to winning the World Series in 1997 They beat the Cleveland Indians in one of the most thrilling finishes ever After the World Series team owner Wayne Huizenga broke up the team by trading away many of his best and highest-paid players Unhappy with Huizenga’s moves many fans stayed away from the ballpark In 1999 Huizenga decided he would rather be a baseball fan than a team owner and sold the Marlins Florida soon dropped in the standings From 1998 to 2002 the team had a losing record every year However the Marlins slowly rebuilt their roster with exciting young players They had a group of hard-throwing pitchers including Brad Penny A J Burnett 7
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Carl Pavano Josh Beckett and Braden Looper They also had some very good hitters including Derrek Lee Mike Lowell and Juan Pierre In 2003 the team signed All-Star catcher Ivan Rodriguez to handle the young pitching staff The Marlins also called up Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from the minor leagues Rodriguez Cabrera and Willis gave the team a spark After starting the year slowly the Marlins finished strong and made the playoffs as the NL Wild Card Against all odds they won the pennant and beat the powerful New York Yankees in the World Series Amazing as it may seem the Marlins had just two winning seasons in their first 11 years Yet both times they ended up as champions of baseball The experts learned an important lesson from Florida’s formula for success If you put the right players in the right places at just the right time great things can happen In the years after their 2003 championship the Marlins found more good young players and also made a lot of smart trades They sent Beckett to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez Ramirez was named Rookie of the Year in LEFT Hanley Ramirez was the NL batting champion in 2009 ABOVE Juan Pierre stole 167 bases in his three seasons with the Marlins 9
